18 June 1944: exactly four years after General de Gaulle’s call to resistance from London, the Battle of Saint-Marcel began. Liberation was near. The German army, once considered invincible, was defied for the first time in occupied France. Sheltered and fed at huge risk by the locals, 2000 Breton Resistance fighters and 200 Free French parachutists, dropped off a few days earlier to manage the Resistance and hound the enemy, bravely faced the battle-hardened German troops. Equipped and armed thanks to the largest parachute airdrop organised by the Allies in occupied France, they inflicted heavy losses on the Germans, before withdrawing into the night. The significance of these first combats was huge. They announced the end of a dark period in French history, marked by suffering, deprivation, violence and arbitrary rule at the hands of the occupier.

Located on the very sites of these combats, the Breton Resistance Museum offers 1000m² of exhibition spaces, which present the everyday life of Bretons under occupation and their commitment to the Army of Shadows and the fight for Liberation.